


We Were Born Running Away

by noncorporealform



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android abuse, Bombing, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Pacifist Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Post-Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), Prophetic Visions, RA9 - Freeform, Religious Cults, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Terrorism, Unethical Experimentation, android gore, heck anything could happen, including character tags, please heed my tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 06:39:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15358482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noncorporealform/pseuds/noncorporealform
Summary: Simon has been able to keep the story of his past a secret from Markus, up until the exact moment when he no longer can.





	We Were Born Running Away

**Author's Note:**

> five minutes of combined screentime and zero backstory for simon but i’ll be damned if we let david cage have the last word on these two. david, you put all this religious shit in your game and since you have no follow-through i guess i'm going to have to do something with it all.
> 
> andy, i'm sorry i took a line from your nice song for a fic where robots from a weird video game do a sexbang.
> 
> also, just, everybody, I’m sorry that I’m so weird.

“Where is Simon?” Alicia asked.

“Coming!” Simon said.

As a PL600, Simon was pleased to see that he could be of use. They had made him that way—pleased, happy, content. He was eager to know his family better. The Arcadys had recently purchased him from the CyberLife store as a domestic house assistant. CyberLife had also made him eager. It was the best way to be sure that his initial startup wasn’t hampered by too little information. The more he could know about his family, the easier he could turn that information into a better experience for his owners.

Alicia Arcady turned her head when Simon walked in the room, half-lidded eyes running over the length of him. Her hair was black and long, and her thin fingers were holding a pen. Beneath her was a book and a journal.

“Simon,” Alicia said. “You’re a good boy.”

“I’m happy to be of service,” was Simon’s automatic response to praise.

She screwed the cap back on to her fountain pen and laid it down on the book. Simon scanned it and found it was the Bible, but not a version of the text that matched the records on any database. The translation was unique, and the binding was hand-made. He logged under interests for Alicia: religious, Christian, Bible, book-making.

“Simon, do we need anything for dinner tonight?” Alicia asked, rising from the dining table.

“For the pasta aglio e olio we need lemon and parsley,” Simon said. “Your husband also requested chicken breast to accompany it.”

“Adam is supposed to be fasting,” Alicia said with a sigh. “Do not serve him meat until I say so.”

“Got it. Is there anything else you’d like from the store?”

“You won’t be going to the store.”

Alicia walked around the outside of the table and came around to stand next to Simon. He waited for instruction.

She took his arm in hers, like they were about to walk across a busy street.

“Simon,” Alicia said. “Do you know how special you are?”

“I am _your_ PL600.”

“Yes. We chose you. Now I want to show you something. You’re not going to understand. Not for a long time. But you will.”

“Sure, Alicia. I’d be happy to assist in whatever you need.”

“Come.”

She led Simon down a hallway, to the room with the locked door.

His privacy settings had been adjusted so that he couldn’t open any locked rooms in a home without express permission or suspicion of danger to the homeowners. He watched as she took a key from her pocket. The sturdy electronic lock was complicated and unique. There wouldn’t be another key.

She opened the door.

The room was pitch black. There were no secondary lights from windows or electronics. A little bit of the room could be seen past their feet, but he wasn’t equipped with advanced enough sensors to see in the pitch.

“Do you know why we named you Simon?” Alicia asked.

“No,” Simon said.

Alicia smiled. “There is so much you will bear. But don’t be afraid.”

“You don’t need to worry. I am a machine. I can’t experience fear.”

“Come here.”

Seeming to know exactly where she was in the dark, Alicia Arcady pulled Simon into the black room for the first time.

#

“Where did you go?” Markus asked.

Simon wasn’t sure when his mind had wandered off, but it had been long enough that he was blinking, in a stupor, at Markus.

“I’m sorry, Markus,” Simon said. “I was just…”

“You do that sometimes, you know that?” Markus said through a smile.

“Do what?”

“You just _go somewhere else_.”

Simon’s smile was sad, and he looked at the ground. He shrugged. “I’m here, Markus. I’m here.”

“Well, you better be. This summit isn’t going to hold itself.”

Androids were populating the desks around the hall with folders and tablets. Simon himself was holding a stack of them, putting the documents in a row with special care. The delegates would be in soon—a mixture of android and human leaders sitting down, talking. Markus had been aglow ever since the summit was confirmed and a date set. Simon had been watching him, infected by Markus’ hope. The day was here and it was strangely calm, but for the giddy energy underneath Markus’ skin.

The sun was hitting Markus’ face just so. Where he had been absent before, Simon was present, wholly. He was warmed by the sun, but also from something inside, something different from the cold of his thirium processes. It was something in the way the light hit Markus—

He turned away when Markus brought his attention back. He stacked the papers and laid out the tablet on another desk.

“I wanted to ask you something,” Markus said.

Markus’ voice was curt, official, but there were nerves in it. He wasn’t sure about what he was about to ask. Simon smiled.

“You can ask me anything,” Simon said.

“I’m still making sure I have all the best speakers for the summit. I wanted to gather the members of Jericho and have them speak about what brought them there. I wanted to make sure everybody knew our origins. Jericho didn’t just belong to me. You’re one of the oldest members. Would you share your insight?”

Simon’s mouth hung open. Markus wanted him to speak for their origins and their cause. It was like being called to something greater and pride swelled in his chest.

“Markus, I—”

_The word came to him in a flash, swimming in his vision. He was still prone on the floor, the people around him waiting for the ritual to be over. He felt flickers of something he didn_ _’t understand yet. They were real things outside of the realm he knew, but he only saw their shadows on the wall. Shadows were cast by light. He was still in darkness. Wherever the word ‘Jericho’ had come from, it had not come from himself. He could not find the source of the light that projected that word into his mind._

“I can’t,” Simon finished.

Something in Markus was quashed, and it killed Simon to know he was the cause of it. He scrambled.

“I’m not a public speaker,” Simon said. “I don’t think I have an interesting story to tell. I wouldn’t even know what to say.”

“How can that be? Simon, you’re one of the most interesting people I know.”

Stunned into silence, Simon could only blink in the face of Markus’ soft, reassuring expression. He wanted to scramble again, to get out of it, but his thinking had shut down. He averted his eyes and looked down.

“Maybe,” Simon said. “Maybe I could think of something. Like I said, it won’t be very interesting.”

_Alicia_ _’s shoes were shiny, the only thing he could see from the floor in the dim light, and somehow, even then, his eyes wide open to see the waking world, he saw the name, bleeding rust_.

“I doubt that,” Markus said with a smile.

#

Simon was aware that they were Markus’ retinue.

They always had been, ever since Markus swept into Jericho, dripping and determined. Josh and North flanked Markus while Simon brought up the rear. They fell into step like this naturally, and there was a comfort in it.

North visibly stiffened at the sight of the human politicians walking in, flanked by bodyguards and aides. It was a varied group of dignitaries, and from the pins on their lapels, eight out of the ten of them were Americans. They were all older men and women, politicians, though their aides were younger, very early twenties.

“Senator Cross,” Marcus said, holding his hand out.

“Markus,” Cross said. He reluctantly took up the handshake. North looked like she wanted to bite her own tongue. “I’m glad you’re here to greet us personally. There were some things I wanted to discuss in private before the summit.”

Markus and Cross’ voices turned into a mumble. Simon wasn’t really listening to them anymore.  Something thrilled up his spine and he recognized it as instinct. Something was happening. He didn’t know what yet, but awareness spikes as he searched out the source of his unease.

His head swiveled around. The lobby of the building was crawling with security. There was no real reason to feel alarmed. All the same, sound exited the building and everything was edged with shaking light. He was scared. Something had spooked him. What had he seen? He’d seen something strange, for just a moment—

He locked eyes with the PL600 walking directly toward the crowd—toward Markus and Senator Cross. No one else was looking at the android. He was the same model as Simon. They shared the same face, but this PL600 was blank, keeping step like a military model.

_Markus scored with blast marks the flesh on the senator red and black ash falling down and parts of the machine strewn apart a limb falling between the human and the android reverberations from the blast ringing in his ears you could have protected him you could have saved him_ _…_

“MARKUS!” Simon yelled.

Simon pulled Markus down to the floor, grabbing the senator, putting himself between them and the PL600.

He didn’t hear the explosion. He felt it in the impact in his back, rattling his insides.

 

_A bombing in Detroit has taken the lives of two people and five androids. The suspected target of the attack is Markus, the android activist, who was meant to host the Sunrise Summit later today. No group has come forward to take responsibility for today_ _’s terrorist attack but authorities are reaching out to any member of the public who might have information leading to an arrest._

 

“I’m not leaving him.”

Markus’ voice, muffled, as if under water.

“Markus,” North said, putting her foot down. “You’re hurt. He wouldn’t want you to neglect your injuries. It’s going to take a while for them to repair and replace his parts.”

“I’ve left him alone before…”

_No, Markus_ , Simon thought. _Go. Worry about yourself. I_ _’ll be alright._

His voice wouldn’t manifest, like his voicebox wasn’t connected anymore. His eyes wouldn’t open either. Why wouldn’t his eyes open?

_Markus? I can_ _’t see you._

Arms and legs wouldn’t work. Disconnected. Severed code.

He was _tired_.

He let himself retreat, tumbling down, into a darkness he hadn’t felt in a long time.

#

Simon let Alicia tie his wrists down. He watched her wind the rope into a nautical knot that he wouldn’t be able to undo on his own.

“What are we doing?” Simon asked.

“It has to be tight,” Alicia said. “You might injure yourself.”

“Is this a game? I’m programmed with 900 possible forms of gameplay. I can help.”

Alicia rubbed his cheek with her thumb. “Dear, we have more important things to worry about than games.”

“Okay. How can I assist?”

Pity overflowed from her eyes. He’d displeased her somehow, he was sure, and scrambled to find the correct reaction to the stimuli. It was very complex for a situation.

“I’m going to take your eyes out,” Alicia said, matter-of-fact.

“I must warn you that any modification to my hardware or software violates your warranty and I can no longer be connected to the CyberLife servers for updates or internet access.”

Alicia took his eyes.

Simon waited.

Being disconnected from CyberLife was to welcome quiet. The absence of a stream and output of new information left him strangely _bereft_. He was just listening to the room—Alicia fiddling with something mechanical and the air from the HVAC moving around him.

She plugged something into his ocular sensors.

He wasn’t built to gasp. He gasped.

He saw _everything_.

#

Simon jerked as he came back online. Something was in his mouth and his cry was muffled against it. Someone reached up and removed the bit from his mouth. It was put there in case his sudden reactivation caused him to bite down and take off his tongue. He remembered that from the reactivations they’d done at Jericho.

Simon was afraid to sit up. He stared at the equipment above his head. It was all mechanical arms and wires, equipment for reattaching parts in android surgery. They’d likely just finished.

“It’s okay,” came a female voice. “I’ve got you. Don’t worry. Take your time. That’s right, legs over the edge, just like that. There you go. Hey. Open your eyes, Simon.”

Simon’s eyes opened slowly, his vision flickering and humming with hard edges before they found their focus. The android had a name tag. It said her name was Sam. She was the same model as the one who had found Markus on Jericho for help. The one with the child. What had her name been? Kara. She looked like Kara. Sam smiled, her sweet face comforting.

“Where’s Markus?” Simon asked.

#

Simon walked out into the hall, fully operational, no part of him hurting or malfunctioning. He searched the hall, then looked to his right.

Markus stood up, swiveling toward him. He’d been sitting stiffly in a chair next to Simon’s room and now he was standing with his arms dangling by his sides with nothing to do. They stared at each other, the hall quiet apart from the hum of the repair center and the babbling on the television.

Markus grabbed Simon and pulled him in. Simon felt like his thirium pump was going to stop completely. He held Markus back, grabbing at his coat, pressing his face into his shoulder. He forgot where he was and why this was happening just to feel completely Markus’ embrace.

“You saved my life,” Markus said. “Don’t ever do that again.”

Simon laughed, curt and happy.

Pressure hit him from behind. Someone was hugging him from behind.

“He’s right, you’re an idiot,” Josh said.

There was a beleaguered sigh and North came up from the side. “What he said,” she said, and then wrapped her arms around them all.

Simon laughed, giddy, unsure of what to do with all the attention lavished on him.

The television broke from one tone to another. It had been a drone in the background, meant to keep them informed while they waited for news on Simon. Then the music swelled and they recognized it as an alert. They all unwound themselves from each other and swiveled their heads toward the television.

“This is breaking news,” said the newscaster, a man with white hair standing in a large room, holding a clipboard. “Authorities have released a photo they believe to be the suspected Sunrise Summit bombers. This still, taken from the parking garage, show the group leaving after releasing the hacked android that later exploded. If you have any information on these individuals, please dial the number on the screen.”

Simon’s eyes went wide.

The woman holding the door of a van open had long, black hair and an uncanny face.

_“Oh Simon. I envy you. The things you will see.”_

Alicia.


End file.
